Broadband Plasma-Sprayed Anti-reflection Coating for Millimeter-Wave Astrophysics Experiments

We have developed a plasma-sprayed anti-reflection (AR) coating technology for millimeter-wave astrophysics experiments with cryogenic optics which achieves minimal dissipative loss and broad bandwidth and is easily and accurately applied. Plasma spraying is a coating process through which melted or heated materials are sprayed onto a substrate. The dielectric constants of the plasma-sprayed coatings were tuned between 2.7 and 7.9 by mixing hollow ceramic microspheres with alumina powder as the base material and varying the plasma energy of the spray. By spraying low loss ceramic materials with a tunable dielectric constant, we can apply multiple layers of AR coating for broadband millimeter-wave detection. At 300 K, we achieved a fractional bandwidth of 106 over 90% transmission using a three-layer AR coating. Applying ceramic coatings on ceramic lenses offers an additional benefit of preventing cryogenic delamination of the coatings. We report on methodology of coating application and measurement of uniformity, repeatability, transmission property, and cryogenic adhesion performance.